GADSDEN, Ala. – Police in Alabama say a 20-year-old man who believes he is a vampire and goes by the nickname “Vamp” is accused of burning a “V” into a teenager’s forehead.

Evan Francis Brown has been charged with second-degree assault, a felony. Gadsden police detective Mike Hooks told The Gadsden Times that Brown heated a fork or a spoon on a stove and used it to brand a “V” into a 17-year-old’s forehead in October. Hooks says Brown tied the teen up, tricking him into believing they were playing a game.

Police say the teenager also had cigarette burns on his face and arms and had been beaten.

Hooks says Brown has told authorities that his religious belief is Satanism and that he is known by the nickname “Vamp.”